The present technology relates to new energy curable compositions, more particularly to energy curable compositions comprising polyester polyol acrylates, polyester ether polyol acrylates and/or polyether polyol acrylates that incorporate natural oils or fatty carboxylic acids into the backbone of the polyols. These natural oil-containing polyol acrylates are particularly suited for use in printing inks.
Polyol acrylates, such as polyester polyol acrylates, polyether polyol acrylates and epoxy acrylates, have been used for pigment dispersions in UV, Electron Beam (EB) or other energy curable printing inks. However, the current energy curable ink market requires better pigment wetting to produce stronger color, excellent rheological properties, and long term stability. Pigment loading and reducing the amounts of additives are also important concerns to ink manufacturers to reduce costs of manufacture. The market demands high quality ink with good pigment dispersibility, less pseudoplastic behavior, relatively low viscosity and fast cure. Therefore, there is a need for new polyester, polyether, and polyester ether polyol acrylates that can meet the demand for improved energy curable inks and supply excellent pigment wetting, high color strength, good curability and superior rheological performance.